Various synthetic roof and wall coverings are known, such as those formed of elongated thermoplastic wall panels that are nailed or screwed to a wall or support surface in horizontal courses or rows in partially overlapping relation to each other so as to provide a substantially water repellant, protective layer over the support surface. Such panels, which usually are identically molded, commonly are formed with a plurality of horizontal rows of simulated building elements. Since the panels are identically molded, a panel-to-panel identity can be easily noticed if the panels are not carefully installed, which can be tedious and time consuming.
Concealing the panel-to-panel identity of panels formed with simulated hand laid stone or brick patterns has been particularly difficult. In an effort to conceal the juncture between rows of simulated masonry of adjacently mounted panels, it is known to stagger the length of the rows of the simulated masonry of each panel, and to interlock the rows of adjacent panels by forming a small slot in the underside of the masonry element of one row which receives a side flange of an adjacently mounted panel. Because of the small depth of the flange receiving slot, particularly with the shorter height simulated stone or brick, the tooling required during injection molding of the panel must be so thin that it can be subjected to warpage or breakage, causing variances in formation of the slot that can impede the precision by which the panels can be inter-engaged, resulting in unslightly and unnatural gaps between the simulated masonry of the adjacent panels. Moreover, because the simulated hand-laid stone or brick are separated by simulated mortar lines, irregular or inconsistent gaps between the stone or brick at adjoining ends of the panels that are not consistent with the mortar lines throughout the panel can be particularly noticeable.
A further problem with panels formed with such simulated masonry is that following plastic injection molding of the panel, the masonry elements and mortar lines must be separately painted. This often causes the simulated masonry to take a smooth, often shiny, appearance of the molded plastic which is not characteristic of natural stone or brick.